10 Ways to Go Analog at Your Local Library
By: Alicia B., Highland Park Library
Physical media is making a comeback and Saint Paul Public Library is the perfect place to discover or return to analog objects. For millennials, Gen-Z, and Gen-Alpha, what’s old is new again. Staring at a screen loses novelty when it is the only option from sunrise to sunset. Fortunately, libraries have vast collections to wander and get lost in.
Those of us that remember a time before cell phones often wax poetic about “the good old days,” but younger people often feel a similar longing. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a website and book by John Koenig, coined the term anemoia. Anemoia is defined as “nostalgia for a time you never experienced,” an attitude often expressed by people that lament they were born in the wrong decade.
Discovering a hidden gem when and where you don’t expect it feels like an amazing treat. Engaging with physical items allows more meaningful immersion, less distraction, and best of all... way, way fewer advertisements. Take a stroll through memory lane or open yourself up to more analog experiences in your day-to-day life. The public library has always been the ideal place to connect with new knowledge in countless formats.
1.Get Out and Visit a Saint Paul Public Library Building
First and foremost, put your most comfortable shoes on and visit a Saint Paul Public Library location. Have you been to one more branch than any other? Take a whimsical jaunt to a different library branch to see bespoke architectural designs, new faces, and you might just discover a new favorite place in the city.
If you want to be an overachiever, visit them all! Say hello to a slew of library workers and let yourself be a fresh face in an unfamiliar location. Going analog means embracing and giving in to the longing for minor inconveniences. The term frictionmaxxing is currently circulating social media and being written about in major publications. Whether or not new terminology for old ideas makes you invigorated or bristle, slowing down and spending time engrossed in your hobbies is great for your mental health.
Get lost on purpose! Who knows what you will find?
2.Try it Before You Buy it
Our second recommendation is the most basic: get a library card and check out items that interest you. If you live in the city of Saint Paul, visit the branch most convenient to you and register for a card or sign-up for an e-card on our website. If you live in the Twin Cities or suburbs, bring your library card and photo ID and we are able to register other Minnesota library barcodes in our system.
Walking through the stacks and, yes, judging books, DVDs, CDs, and records by their cover is a great way to engage with media you might not have considered. Without an algorithm suggesting similar suggestions over and over, there is more space for discovery and play. Pick out a few random CDs and listen to them without any prior research. Maybe you won’t like them, maybe you will.
The library is a low-cost, high reward way to try something new. Checking out items is free, so what’s the worst that could happen?
3.Book Sale Items to Curate a Personal Home Collection or Analog Bag
Language moves and morphs at an incredible rate and the internet has created and appropriately romanticized the idea of an “analog bag.” What’s in an analog bag? Well, that mainly depends on the person and what kinds of interests and hobbies they have, but the opportunities are endless.
Intended as the antidote to doomscrolling, analog bags are full of tactile pieces of media and art supplies to hold your attention and keep your hands busy doing something productive instead of reaching for a phone. Doodling in a sketchbook promotes mindfulness and provides a much-needed mental break from the overwhelming 24-hour news cycle. It can also provide a nice little dopamine burst, lowering your stress and anxiety, while simultaneously lowering your screentime: a win-win-win.
Realistically, there is only so much space on a library branch’s shelves and libraries are purchasing new items all the time. Libraries often need to weed, or withdraw, items that have not circulated in a certain amount of time or are damaged. The items that are deleted from circulation but are still in good condition end up on in the library book sale. For the best deal in town, SPPL sells paperback books for 25 cents and hardcovers for 50 cents! CDs and DVDs are only $1, even cheaper than many thrift and secondhand stores.
Remember, Saint Paul Public Library can accept cash or checks – no credit cards or ApplePay – so be sure to hit the ATM or bank if you need to.
4.Book Sale Items for Upcycling Art Projects: Junk Journals and Collage
If you aren’t purchasing an item to read it, cut it up! Libraries often have amazing nonfiction books like cookbooks, photography, and travel books that are perfect for do-it-yourself and art projects. Live out your Pinterest and TikTok dreams and put down your phone to pick up a pair of scissors. Options for creation include collage, junk journals or sketchbooks, greeting cards and other snail mail, or buttons.
Junk journaling is a low-stress and low-pressure way to fill up a notebook with miscellaneous ephemera you acquire. Embrace how rebellious it feels to cut and rip up old library items that you are giving new life. Make a poetry zine with a piece of paper, glue stick, and carefully collected and arranged words from withdrawn media.
5.Create in Classes and Programs: Use Our Supplies! Bring Home Something Wonderful!
Library programs are the ideal place to come learn a new artistic medium or skill. For adults, there are groups like the Knitters, Knatters, and Crafting Circle at Highland Park or a monthly art class at Dayton’s Bluff. Use the “Makers, Arts & Crafts” tag on the events page to see activities for adults.
Saint Paul’s recurring programs like the Innovation Lab at the George Latimer Library downtown, Createch for teens, and Fun Lab for children and tweens ages 7-11 at select branches are always posted on SPPL’s website.
In-person art programs boost creativity but also form a strong sense of community. Come meet your neighbors that share similar interests with you! Programs are always free and are a wonderful way to feel connected to your city.
6.Arts and Crafts and Do-It-Yourself Kits for Check-Out
Are you an introvert or booked and busy? Do you feel like an expert already or would you like to craft in the comfort of your own home? Perfect! SPPL has a variety of different pre-packaged kits available for checkout and experimenting. SPPL has kits for library adults and Nature Smart backpack kits for littles.
A few examples include the Make at Home Earth-Friendly Greeting Cards Kit, a Mini Loom Kit, a Paper Quilling Kit, and multiple Tarot Card kits! Check one out to have three weeks with the materials. Use our kits for inspiration. Is there a kit you’d like to build for yourself and take with you on errands? Crocheting or reading at the DMV is far more enjoyable and stress-free than sitting and doomscrolling on your phone.
7. Request an Interlibrary Loan or Suggest an Item for Purchase
Since the collective “we” are used to immediacy when it comes to streaming and online shopping, sometimes it is good to remind ourselves that some things are worth waiting for. If there is an item that you, a Saint Paul Public Library patron, wants to check out but SPPL does not own the item, you have options!
For older, academic, or niche items, an interlibrary loan might be the remedy. Patrons can search all lending Minnesota libraries and have an item sent to Saint Paul to check-out. Log-in with your Saint Paul Public Library credentials on MNLink.org or ask a librarian. If a librarian is placing the hold for you, they will need your SPPL Library card barcode.
For newer items that Saint Paul does not currently have in its collection, you can suggest we purchase it. All items must abide SPPL’s Collection Development Policy. Saint Paul patrons can suggest up to four items a month for purchase.
8.Special Analog In-Branch Offerings
Each neighborhood in Saint Paul has its own particular needs and unique interests. Next time you are in a library branch, ask your local librarian what they like best about the collection where they work. There is an endless amount of visual data to process in a library. When you open the floodgates for a library worker to tell you what they find interesting, you might learn something you didn’t know existed!
Noticing a need and creating a service based on that need? There is no better feeling for library folk!
- Merriam Park: “Dig Bin” Vinyl - Much like browsing at a brick-and-mortar record store, Merriam Park has a record collection that is not searchable on the website. For current and aspiring audiophiles, dig bin vinyl is a quirky way to listen to records that might not be available on streaming or to purchase anymore.
- Arlington Hills: Board Games to Check-Out - The staff at Arlington Hills put popular board games into their collection. If you keep meaning to try a board game but don’t want to purchase it before playing it first, head over to Arlington and give it a go.
- Riverview, Merriam Park, and Saint Anthony: Puzzle Exchanges - Another example of a service based on a community request and need are the puzzle exchanges at Saint Paul Public Library’s Riverview, Merriam Park, and Saint Anthony Park branches. If you have a puzzle at home that you’d like to swap out for a new challenge, bring it to a branch with a puzzle exchange and take a (new to you) puzzle home.
9.Seed Libraries at Riverview, Sun Ray, and Riverview
Max out and go the most analog and touch some dirt and plants! Nature is the exact opposite of digital and is good for mental health. Switch off the screens, put on some sunscreen, and plant seeds from one of Saint Paul Public Library’s seed libraries.
At the end of the day, seeds contain biological information and hold ancestral knowledge. Fun fact: did you know plants actually make music of their own?
10. smARTpass for Free and Discounted Tickets to Museums, Live Music, and Plays
For those of us that are restless and sick of streaming, utilize MELSA’s program for inspiring in-person experiences. Subscriptions are expensive and endless choices can become more of a chore than a joy.
Patrons can claim up to two free or discounted offers per month. While it is cozy on the couch, making an occasion to support local organizations and artists cements a sense of community.
Remember sitting in a crowded movie theater and laughing at jokes with your neighbors? Remember clapping at the end of a performance and seeing the performers’ eyes light up? You can reconnect with the people around you and, thanks to smARTpass, you can do it on a budget!
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Sources
Anemoia | The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows | Saint Paul Public Library | BiblioCommons
Our Longing for Inconvenience | The New Yorker
Exploring the Impact of Hobbies on Mental Health and Well-Being: A Scoping Review - PubMed
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